For those creatives who are unable to attend a class or a course with Melbourne Art Classes due to any number of obstructions, there is an easy and affordable way to keep up your learning in your own home/ time.

Your kit should include (as well as paints and brushes) a fine water mister, towel, plastic plates or rip-off disposable palettes, drawing materials, an A4 folder to keep all charts, printed materials, tests, references and studies etc in.

Get or make yourself some kind of stay-wet palette of saving system. eg eg. screw-jar towers,use a chocolate box, ideas

If you ever get urges to try watercolour or oils or mixed media, I will gladly let you play on a little project with my materials before you invest in a whole new medium range. (PS.Disclaimer: unless you are not levelling up with your drawing, in which case, you might not be ready to waste materials on random playing)

ABOUT REGULAR CLASSES

Everyone starts at their own level, some with no experience and some others have had mixed experience, even fine art related degrees. You will absorb a lot from the learners around you, things to do, things not to do. Your creative journey is your own individual one however, and we make available an art curriculum planner for you to print and update to keep a track of what you need to cover and what you want to achieve each term. There are no tests, no pressure, you need to be responsible for how much time you put into your creativity. Class is only 20 hours a term, so any extra time that you can find in a week to learn more from the theory and practical modules (including drawing practice) that we offer you will serve to fast-track your development in all areas. The online studio offers many extras.

If you have not yet done so, please familiarise yourself with some basic terminology, which you can build on as you go along.

The fundamental areas of colour mixing and relationships, (+ value,contrast, light and shade, composition and design, drawing and paint application techniques) cannot be conquered in one term or even one year, but if you plot your own achievable course, we will support you all the way. You can purchase extra learning project modules at anytime online if you have the time to work independantly on do more at home.

Subject choices: you will, like everyone else, have many ideas for art works, that you will be itching to try. It is highly recommended to choose your subjects wisely in order to practice and learn as many of the above fundamentals that you can.

NB: The genres that you lean towards dont change the foundation subjects required. eg. Good abstract art works are created using many of the same foundation skills as figurative works. Your eye, brain and hand need to train well to work together to be able to execute your ideas,tell your visual stories, and do so originally, skilfully and hopefully in a highly engaging way, utilising the elements and principles of design, sound mark making skills, colour and value mastery etc. The modern abstract masters who pioneered movements, all did so, upon a similar foundation.